The Exile of a political columnist star in Miami casts doubts over freedom of speech in Mexico

Pablo Hiriart is one of the main figures in the business morning publication El Financiero. In addition to being the publication's Politics Bureau Chief, as a journalist he is thoroughly acquainted with the red circle of power and has become notorious for the times he questioned Andrés Manuel López Obrador at his morning interviews.

But the reality is that Hiriart has been away from the country for months, settled in Miami, where he arrived to cover the final stretch of the electoral race in the United States and from where he has not returned yet. A few weeks ago, Ciro Gómez Leyva asked him during a radio broadcast if he would return to cover Mexican news, but Hiriart only responded that he would be back to the country in 2021. Possible return dates were in January or February, but the trip back has not happened yet.

During that same interview, Hiriart said he would only write from Mexico about the bilateral relationship with the United States and no longer about national political issues. He also casted doubts as to whether he would be staying at the direction of the publication.

This is the key to his absence. According to LPO, Manuel Arroyo wants to maintain Hiriart in Miami to prevent him from returning and ending the relationship with the government. In fact, the trigger for his exile in Florida would have been an editorial titled "Maria Antonieta", in which Hiriart mentions the first lady Beatriz Gutierrez . That was the turning point.

Arroyo believes that it is inconceivable to run a newspaper without a close relationship with the government. Despite being young, he has been acquainted with the pre-4T business scheme: government advertising covers the costs of operating the publication, while the remaining publicity deals are considered the profitability.

Arroyo no longer receives the volume of government publicity given to him by the previous government, but he does not want to lose what he still has. He also owns telecommunications and technology businesses that depend on contracts with the states, so he cannot afford to be vetted in the government, especially now that Alfonso Romo - his link in 4T - is no longer the President's Chief of Staff.

Due to these interests, and based on other confidential reasons, Arroyo needs one of his top journalists to stay far away in Miami.